In Memoriam

We Remember

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Sister Sharon Beckmann, OP (Therese Michelle)

(1940-2021)

“God brings you back whether you’re ready to go back or not, and really it was a gift to me.”

These words from Sister Sharon Beckmann in her April 2017 “A Sister’s Story” video referred to her decision in 1977 to re-enter the Congregation after seven years away, a decision which came after human, as well as divine, intervention.

Sharon Mae Beckmann was born on March 25, 1940, in St. Joseph, Michigan, to Joseph and Marie (Schramm) Beckmann. She was the Beckmanns’ second child, after Jim, and the rest of the siblings followed considerably later: Marcia was born when Sharon was nine, Joe two years later, Therese three years after that, Michael when Sharon was eighteen, and finally Kathy, when Sharon was twenty-one and had already been in the Congregation for several years.

Therese (called Terri) told this story in a remembrance sent in for Sister Sharon’s wake service:

I remember our mom telling us that Sharon, and our brother Jim, were both born at home, and the doctor took down the information for the birth record at that time. It was many years later, when our mom worked for the county clerk and had requested copies of all of our birth certificates [that] Mom was quite surprised to find that Sharon’s birth certificate listed her name as “Cherry Mae” instead of Sharon Mae. Perhaps the doctor just heard the name wrong, and that’s how the error was made. Well, Sharon didn’t think it was funny at all, but I thought that it was hilarious! And over the years, I reminded Sharon from time to time, and shared the story with others, about her original birth name, Cherry Mae! I can just imagine Sharon shaking her head and rolling her eyes now, as we’re sharing this story again, today. Love you, sister Cherry – er, Sharon!